Flint River Irrigation Water and Crop Management Technology Integration Program

The lower portion of the Flint River Basin serves as one of the most agriculturally intensive areas in the state of Georgia. Home to more than 5,000 center pivot irrigation systems irrigating approximately 650,000 acres, the Flint River Basin’s ground and surface water resources are challenged to sustain economic yield without sacrificing the biodiversity of the Flint River and its tributaries. Changing weather patterns, droughts, and low market prices continually challenge farmers to produce high yields with less money. Farmers cannot afford to risk economic stability by using less water unless they have some credible means to find that they already are applying sufficient water. Faced with this irrigation scheduling battle, farmers in the Flint River Basin are in dire need of a system that takes the guesswork out of irrigation scheduling, and provides the validation needed to insure others that the water resources of the basin are being used in an efficient and effective manner. The purpose of this project is to move real time soil moisture monitoring into the hands of the farmer to be used for irrigation scheduling. Less than 5% of farmers in Georgia are currently using some form of soil moisture monitoring, though it is thought to be the principle way to determine the effectiveness of irrigation application. This project will set up a telemetry network to transmit soil moisture data from the field to the Internet via a wireless network. Farmers will have the ability to read irrigation scheduling reports, pivot location, and other crop management information from a handheld computer in the field.